General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Air Passenger Duty to be devolved to Scotland, which wants to halve & then scrap it
The Smith Commission, to see how powers including taxation could be devolved to Scotland, says that the Scottish Parliament should be able set income tax rates and bands and Air Passenger Duty should be fully devolved. At present, APD is charged by the Treasury only because air travel is significantly under-taxed, paying no VAT and no fuel duty. There is no logical reason why air travel, which is a luxury product, for discretionary spending, should be exempt from tax. This is particularly the case when the richest sections of society do the most flying, and of the 50% or so who do not fly in any one year, many are less affluent. The Scottish Government wants to halve and then remove APD. For the UK, APD raises about £3 billion per year, and of this about £200 million is raised in Scotland. In theory cutting APD would perhaps increase the number of tourists coming to Scotland. In reality, it is likely that many more Scots travel abroad for their holidays, taking their spending money with them, than foreign tourists flow in. Cutting the tax, and losing the tax revenues from the public finances, may not be wise if it just boosts outward tourism. Airports in the north of England are concerned about losing passengers, who could fly cheaper from Scotland.
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Intelligible summary of the Airports Commission consultation documents
The Airports Commission's consultation documents on the three short-listed runway options are numerous and lengthy. But to give people an initial summary of what they say, HACAN has put together a short summary. They look at the economic claims of each (Heathrow 3rd Runway: £112bn – £211bn; Heathrow Hub: £101bn – £214bn; Gatwick: £42bn – £127bn). On jobs, the estimates vary wildly from 47,000 to 112,000. No one can say how many there will be, how well paid they will be, who will fill them and how long these jobs will last. The Commission estimates the cost of Gatwick would be £9.3 bn; cost of Heathrow Hub £13.5bn; cost of Heathrow north west runway £18.6bn. And there are many other costs, that the taxpayer would need to fund. The Commission puts the work the taxpayer would have to fund at £6.3bn for Heathrow Hub; £5.7bn for Heathrow; and £787,000 for Gatwick. The number of homes to be demolished would be at least 783 homes for Heathrow's north west plan; 242 for Heathrow Hub; and 186 at Gatwick. On noise, the Commission expects the number in the 55 Lden contour by 2050 would be 26,000 at Gatwick; 820,000 for Heathrow north-west runway; and 1,035,100 for Heathrow Hub.
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Huge “NORAH” study in Germany finds significant delay in children’s reading due to impact of aircraft noise
One of the largest and most extensive studies on the impact of aircraft noise on health, and on children's education has been done in Germany. The NORAH study (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition, and Health) has been done by scientists from a range of different disciplines: medicine, psychology, social science, physics and acoustics. The work was done between 2011 and 2014, looking into exposure to aviation, road and rail noise in a large area around Frankfurt Airport and Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart airports. One of the 3 sections of the study looked at noise and children, and this found that aircraft noise affects reading performance. A rise in the flight noise by 10 dB means a delay in reading development of about a month. With a rise in noise of 20dB the delay was 2 months. Also that the overall health and school-related quality of life of children is slightly diminished by aircraft noise. They did not find an impact of aircraft noise on language skills significant for reading. There were problems with noisy classrooms, with over a third in the worst affected classrooms unable to properly understand the teacher.
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Industry lobby “A Fair Tax on Flying” new campaign to try to get APD reduced for children
Another year; another Autumn Statement by the Chancellor. This year's will be on 3rd December. And so another push by the industry lobby "A Fair Tax on Flying" to try to get the rate of tax on air travel cut. In the UK, as in most countries across the world, air travel is under-taxed. For historical reason, air travel pays no tax on jet fuel. In Europe, air travel is zero-rated for VAT. APD is the only tax paid on UK air travel, and that is at the rate of just £13 per return flight per person, for any destination under 2,000 miles from Britain. APD nowhere makes up the deficit of tax lost. The net loss to the Treasury annually may be about £9 billion. The "A Fair Tax on Flying" lobby, whose members are entirely from the aviation and travel industries, now is having a go at getting the Chancellor to cut APD for any child under 12 years old. They claim this is an unfair tax on children, and on what they try to make out is the virtual necessity of foreign holidays by air for everyone. This is a self serving campaign by the lobby, to boost its trade. They gloss over the inconvenient fact that they will raise the price of air travel during school holidays and half terms etc, and charge far, far more per passenger than merely the £13 for a European trip.
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Frankfurt airport campaigner finds large plane flap that fell from aircraft into forest under approach path
On 14th October, an airport campaigner from Frankfurt was walking with his dog in the forest near Frankfurt airport, overflown by an arrival flight path. He spotted an object lying near the path, which turned out to be a huge plane landing flap. Summoning colleagues they photographed it thoroughly, and then called the police. The flap was removed by the police and is being investigated by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU). Frankfurt airport was aware that a flap had been lost a week earlier, and police said they had searched for it unsuccessfully. The airport initially tried to say it was lost by another plane some years back, but the flap was obviously clean and recently fallen. From markings on the flap, it is clear it is from a Korean cargo plane, and an observer at the time of the incident reported seeing something fall from a light blue plane. There had been similar incident, involving a Korean cargo plane, in 2009. As the flap is about 3 - 4 metres long and weighs between 30 - 50kg, it is fortunate it only landed in forest. But it was only 300 metres from the busy A661 road.
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All local MPs speak out against Gatwick 2nd runway at packed protest meeting
Five MPs were on the platform, and 3 more sent messages of support, at a mass protest meeting on Saturday 22 November organised by the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC). All of the 8 MPs from around Gatwick attended or sent messages. This helps disprove the assumption in some national newspapers that Gatwick would politically be the easiest option for a new runway. The MPs were united in expressing their concern about new flight paths and about the threat of a 2nd runway. Extracts from their speeches and messages are copied here. Up to 1,000 people crammed into the meeting in Crawley, and were welcomed by 3 racy air hostesses, and by the Mayor of Crawley, Cllr Brenda Smith who later, speaking as the local councillor, expressed her deep-felt opposition to a new runway. Some 20 national and local environmental groups set up stands around the hall and answered questions from anxious members of the public. Questions from the floor were answered by a panel of experts from a range of organisations. The participants unanimously held up large cards saying NO when asked if they were in favour of new flight paths, and held up the NO cards again when asked if they were in favour of a 2nd runway.
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Standing room only at huge Gatwick protest meeting – definite “NO” to new flight paths or 2nd runway
GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) organised a protest meeting on 22nd November in north Crawley. It was standing room only, with a huge gynmasium with space for up to 1,000 packed. People had come from areas near Gatwick, and up to 25 miles away - to express their intense opposition both to the flight path changes that Gatwick has recently inflicted on them, and to plans for a 2nd runway. The atmosphere at the meeting was up-beat, positive, angry and determined that Gatwick will not ruin their areas and their homes, or reduce their quality of life. Five MPs addressed the meeting (Nicholas Soames, Crispin Blunt, Henry Smith, Charles Hendry and Paul Beresford) with message of support read out from Francis Maude and Sir John Stanley, neither of whom could attend. The meeting was chaired by Helyn Clack (Surrey County Council), and addressed by the Mayor of Crawley, Brenda Smith. Asked by GACC whether people backed a new runway, or backed new flight paths, the response was a loud, unanimous "NO". The meeting ended with cheerful singing of a new song - "What Shall We Do With Gatwick Airport?" (to the tune of the similar "Drunken Sailor."
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Gatwick’s main airline, easyJet, questions Gatwick case for 2nd runway and does not want to pay higher landing charges
Carolyn McCall, CEO of EasyJet, the largest airline at Gatwick, has said passengers want expansion at Heathrow, not at Gatwick. Ms McCall said easyJet is "quite concerned” at the prospect that Gatwick's landing charges would rise to pay for a 2nd runway. They are having confidential talks with the airports on future charges. EasyJet makes on average £8 profit per seat. If Gatwick’s charges doubled from the current £9 to an average of £15 to £18 (or even up to £23) as predicted by the Airports Commission, this would hit EasyJet's economics. Ms McCAll said: “This whole issue of capacity should be about where the demand is. Airlines have to want to go into that airport, and the congestion we have is predominantly around the Heathrow hub. Passengers need to really value what this infrastructure brings, and if they don’t see any benefit it’s going to struggle.” A new runway risked emulating unpopular toll roads. “It will be years and years before [passengers] see any positive effect.” As one of the UK's largest and fastest growing airlines, EasyJet's opinion will need to be given careful consideration by the Commission.
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140 organisations in “Taming Aviation” coalition petitions European Parliament to ban night flights
A coalition of 140 organisations that are signed up to "Taming Aviation" met European Parliament representatives on 18th November to ask for a ban on flights operating at night, over an 8 hour period. And it also called on legislators to stop the tax exemptions the aviation sector currently enjoys. Taming Aviation, and its member organisations, is asking the Parliament to take action. Some of the campaign's members are from communities outside immediate airport areas. Taming Aviation co-founder Susanne Heger said aircraft noise poses serious health threats for people living near airports. According to a study from the University of Bern, the noise increases the risk of dying of a heart attack by 50% and is one of the biggest concerns of those who live under flight paths. At Frankfurt there is already a ban on night flights and this should be extended widely. Citizens' groups have for many years taken these issues up with airports and authorities, with little success. Hence the appeal to the European Parliament to get effective action. There needs to be more action by Europe to ensure that a future aviation emissions system has teeth, and some real effect on aviation CO2.
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Overall fuel efficiency of US airlines fails to improve on domestic routes during 2013, finds ICCT study
An annual performance study by the ICCT shows the fuel efficiency of US carriers on domestic routes failed to improve in 2013. ICCT found little correlation between airline efficiency and profitability, and is concerned that as fuel prices steady or even fall there will even less incentive to make fuel efficiency gains. Even less efficient carriers were also able to make high profits through using older, less fuel efficient aircraft. ICCT’s analysis shows the average annual fuel efficiency between 1990 and 2000 improved by 2.1%, improving to 2.8% between 2000 and 2010 and then fell back to 1.3% between 2010 and 2012. Load factors rose from 60% in 1990 to 82% in 2010, but have flattened out in recent years. The US aircraft fleet is ageing, with fewer new planes. The price of oil has fallen markedly in the past year, and may remain low for some time, due to US oil production. There is concern there will be less incentive, with cheaper fuel, to make energy savings. Or meet the IATA goal of 1.5% energy improvements annually to 2020.